Strasbourg, 20 September 2013 T-PD(2013)08 NANOTECHNOLOGY, UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING AND THE INTERNET OF THINGS: Challenges to Rights to Privacy and Data Protection Draft Report to the Council of Europe The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Council of Europe Georgia Miller University of New South Wales Matthew Kearnes University of New South Wales December 2012 Nanotechnology, Ubiquitous Computing and The Internet of Things Challenges to Rights to Privacy and Data Protection Report to the Council of Europe Georgia Miller University of New South Wales Matthew Kearnes University of New South Wales 2 December 2012 Note on the Purpose of the Document This report has been prepared pursuant to contract 560/12 for the Council of Europe by Georgia Miller and Matthew Kearnes. The report is intended to provide an analysis of the privacy and data protection implications of nanotechnology, ubiquitous computing and domotics. About the Authors Georgia Miller is a PhD candidate in Environmental Humanities at the School of Humanities and Languages, University of New South Wales. Georgia’s PhD thesis uses nanotechnology as a case study to explore how socio-technical imaginaries drive innovation policy and are mobilised within it, how framing and discourse is shaped by and affects political relations and interests, and how knowledge cultures affect regulatory and policy initiatives. She may be contacted at: [email protected] Matthew Kearnes is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Humanities at the School of Humanities and Languages, University of New South Wales. Matthew's research is situated between the fields of Science and Technology Studies (STS), environmental sociology and contemporary social theory. His current work is focused on the social and political dimensions of nanotechnology and synthetic biology, climate change and society, and the social and political dimensions of climate modification and geoengineering. He may be contacted at: [email protected]. 3 Cover Image The cover image used in this report is a visual representation of the internet produced by The Opte Project (ww.opte.org/). It is used here under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) NOTE ON THE PURPOSE OF THE DOCUMENT .................................................................................................................. 3 ABOUT THE AUTHORS .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 BACKGROUND ....................................................................................................................................................................... 6 DEFINING NANOTECHNOLOGY..................................................................................................................................................... 6 MILITARY NANOTECHNOLOGIES ........................................................................................................................................ 9 RESEARCH AND POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS ................................................................................................................................... 9 NANOSENSORS ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 9 DISTRIBUTED SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS ........................................................................................................................................................ 10 DRONES ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 10 IMPLICATIONS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY MILITARY R&D FOR PRIVACY AND SECURITY ................................................................................. 10 STATE OF DEPLOYMENT ............................................................................................................................................................ 11 NANOMEDICINE, THERAPY AND ENHANCEMENT ........................................................................................................ 13 RESEARCH AND POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS ................................................................................................................................. 13 DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS ............................................................................................................................................................................ 13 IMPLANTS ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS AND ICT INTERFACES .................................................................................................................................................. 13 NANOBIONICS ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 STATE OF DEPLOYMENT ............................................................................................................................................................ 14 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, DOMOTICS AND THE INTERNET OF THINGS ........................................................... 16 RESEARCH AND POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS ................................................................................................................................. 16 RFID LABELLING SYSTEMS ............................................................................................................................................................................ 16 NETWORKED SURVEILLANCE TOOLS ............................................................................................................................................................. 16 THE INTERNET OF THINGS ............................................................................................................................................................................ 17 STATE OF DEPLOYMENT ............................................................................................................................................................ 18 CONCLUSIONS AND SYNTHETIC ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................... 20 PRIVACY AND PUBLIC INTEREST DIMENSIONS ............................................................................................................................ 20 ENHANCED MILITARY CAPABILITIES ............................................................................................................................................................ 20 FUNCTION CREEP ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 SOCIAL SORTING ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 INFLUENCES ON SOCIAL RELATIONS ............................................................................................................................................................. 22 LOCATION DATA AND TRACKING ................................................................................................................................................................. 23 INFORMATION SECURITY AND DATA PROTECTION ..................................................................................................................................... 24 ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY ....................................................................................................................................................... 25 LEGAL ISSUES ............................................................................................................................................................................ 27 DATA PROTECTION ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 27 CONSENT ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 29 CONTAINMENT ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 30 SELF REGULATION ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 31 UNDER-REGULATION ...................................................................................................................................................................................